Chapter 15 — Foster care

Physical abuse

Four (4) witnesses described being burned by various means including being struck with hot pokers, pushed into fires, and having hot liquid thrown over them. Two (2) witnesses described having their heads held under water until they thought they might drown, as punishment for bed-wetting. Two (2) foster mothers were reported to regularly wash out the witnesses’ mouths with soap for allegedly telling lies or as a general punishment. Mother ...(foster mother )... got the poker, she stuck it in the fire and took it out, it was so hot, you could see through it and said to my ...foster father... “hold her”, my...(foster)... father said “this is going too far, no way”.... She said “hold her” and he held me back in the chair, she said to put my hand out, and she placed the poker in it ...distressed... and all I remember is passing out.... The pain, I’ll never forget it....

Witnesses reported being physically abused in response to various perceived misdemeanours and other behaviour, including bed-wetting, telling lies, speaking to and being friendly with local children, and not keeping up with chores, particularly farm work. Four (4) female witnesses believed that they were physically abused both as a means of coercion and ensuring silence about sexual abuse.

Fifteen (15) witnesses, both male and female, who reported abuse in foster care prior to the 1980s reported being required to undertake hard physical labour, particularly farm work. One witness reported being required to ‘work like a man’ from the age of eight years. He described having to milk cows, save turf and hay, clean out sheds, take fodder to animals and tend sick animals. He and other witnesses reported being withdrawn from school to work. Several witnesses also reported heavy workloads both in the foster homes and outside on farms. ‘I was there to be their slave’. A female witness reported that she was expected to do all the housework in a home that kept paying guests. Another witness described life in a ‘chaotic’ foster home where the family moved frequently and her work included getting each new home ready in advance for the other family members.

Eight (8) witnesses gave disturbing accounts of severe physical abuse that resulted in them being physically injured or harmed in some way. The isolation of many foster homes, as described by witnesses, increased their sense of helplessness regarding physical abuse. One witness stated that he was regularly beaten until he was so badly injured on one occasion that an ambulance was called and he was removed from the foster placement permanently: I was beaten to the point of a child’s submission to death, I gave up and I hoped I would die.... Obviously someone had been watching, because that particular evening when I was so weak from the beating, I think I may have passed out. ... Blood...(was)... pouring out of me. ... I was taken away by ambulance.... A nurse assisted me, she was very kind.

Another witness stated that he was taken to hospital on two separate occasions following incidents of abuse. On one occasion he reported that he had been burned on the legs and forehead by a hot iron and on the second occasion he was treated for a head injury after the foster mother struck him with a kitchen implement.

A female witness who reported being regularly ‘thrashed’ to the ground by both foster parents described being sent to school wearing long stockings to cover bruises and injuries on her legs and on one occasion wore a cap to cover lacerations to her head. The witness reported that no enquires were made about her injuries.

A witness reported severe physical and sexual abuse throughout her time in a foster home where she was placed as an infant and where she also witnessed other foster children, including babies, being abused. Another witness who had been in foster care since infancy and gave evidence of repeated abuse had a deformed arm and a scar that she believes were the result of early injuries of which she had no memory. The injuries described in the following quotes occurred in the same foster home as mentioned above. This little girl ...(another foster child)... that came ... we seemed to spend our time sitting around the fire, she was there, I remember she seemed quite small, and they ...(foster parents)... were saying “let’s see how much pain she can stand” and they got the hot poker and burned her wrist ...distressed.... I don’t know how they could be so cruel ... or why ...distressed.... I have a burn on my wrist and I can only suspect that the same happened to me. • She ... (another foster child)... I don’t know if she supposedly told a lie, was standing there ... and they were literally trying to pull her tongue out with a gadget ... a pincers or something.... I remember feeling so terrible, helpless for her, ’cos I’d probably be lined up next if I expressed what I felt for her.

A male witness reported that his nose was broken following a blow to the face by a member of the foster family. No medical attention was sought and the witness reported having respiratory difficulties since that time. This witness also reported that bruises from beatings were camouflaged by his foster mother.

There were five witness accounts of physical assaults causing bleeding, including one instance when a witness reported that her foster mother deliberately caught her hand in a door during an argument; she subsequently lost a fingernail. She gave me my last hiding when I was 17 or 18, with the broom handle, I was cowed...she got me in the face. Of course you were always locked up in the dark room, and I bled like a pig, so I rubbed it all over me, so when she came in she nearly had a heart attack.

Witnesses reported being physically abused by both foster parents and their biological children. Thirteen (13) foster mothers and four foster fathers were reported as being consistently abusive. Twelve (12) of the 17 foster parents were identified by name and four of them were each named by two witnesses.

Three (3) witnesses reported that their foster parents’ biological children also abused them. In one instance the reported abuse was perpetrated by several of the foster parents’ children acting in unison. The witness reported being treated like a punching bag and as the scapegoat for the biological children’s own misdemeanours. The witness believed that the foster parents were aware of this ongoing abuse and condoned it by their failure to intervene. The other two witnesses reported being physically abused by foster siblings in the presence of their foster parents with, it was believed, their consent.

Sexual abuse

The use of the child by a person for sexual arousal or sexual gratification of that person or another person2. This section presents the evidence of both acute and chronic sexual abuse, provided by witnesses to the Committee. The reported abuse ranged from contact sexual abuse, including rape and associated physical violence, to non-contact abuse such as voyeurism and inappropriate sexual talk. Many witnesses found it difficult to report the details of their sexual abuse. They reported as much or as little detail as they wished when describing their experiences, and at times confined their accounts to general statements regarding contact or non-contact abuse.

The Committee heard 15 reports of sexual abuse from two male and 13 female witnesses in relation to foster care placements. The reports relate to 13 foster homes. Two (2) foster homes were each the subject of separate reports of sexual abuse by two witnesses.

The forms of sexual abuse reported included exhibitionism, exposure to inappropriate sexual behaviour and talk, oral/genital contact, fondling, masturbation, digital penetration, and anal and vaginal rape. Seven (7) witnesses reported being raped, including one witness who reported that she became pregnant as a result of rape by her foster father.

Witnesses described being sexually abused within the foster homes, in fields, farm buildings and in local business premises. Sexual abuse was frequently reported in combination with physical abuse that was believed to have been used as a threat against the disclosure of sexual abuse and as a component of the sexual abuse. A witness reported the following account of sexual abuse when she was approximately 10 years old: I’m in the kitchen with ...foster father... and he starts fixing the curtains and makes sure no one can see in and I’m thinking “what’s he doing that for?” ... Next thing he picks me up and puts me on the table and takes me knickers off. ... I’ll never forget his eyes, they were all glassy ... (witness described penetrative assault) ... and I say “you’re hurting me”. ... And he stops and he puts me knickers back on and he takes me off the table and he says “don’t tell your mother, you know what she’s like” and I says to myself “what was all that about?”